The Jacksonville Children’s Commission will celebrate its TEAM UP and community-based after-school programs by participating in the nationwide 12th Annual Lights On Afterschool celebration. The event will showcase the critical importance of quality educational and enrichment programming during out-of-school time.
Lights On Afterschool will feature a parade of approximately 500 children from Jacksonville’s after-school programs along the Southbank Riverwalk, starting at the Chart House and culminating with a rally at Friendship Fountain.
The celebration will include a drumline, cheerleading performances, a step team, testimonies from students, remarks from local leaders and a proclamation from Education Commissioner Dr. Donnie Horner.
The event will take place on Thursday, October 20 from 4:30-6 p.m. The students will begin walking from the Chart House at 4:15 p.m., go along the Southbank Riverwalk, and culminate at Friendship Fountain at 4:30 p.m., where the program will take place. Friendship Fountain is located at 1015 Museum Circle.
Lights On Afterschool is celebrated nationwide on October 20 to call attention to the importance of after-school programs for America's children, families and communities. The initiative is a project of the Afterschool Alliance, a non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring that all children have access to quality, affordable after-school programs.
Jacksonville is one of 7,500 communities hosting a special Lights On Afterschool event this year. More than a million people across the country and at military bases overseas are expected to participate.
In addition to Friendship Fountain, landmarks across the nation including bridges, hot air balloons, monuments, a battleship and the Kennedy Space Center rocket garden will be lit up on October 20 as part of the national “Light Up a Landmark” contest. These lightings will add to the list of past landmarks that have been lit for Lights On Afterschool including the Empire State Building, Mount Rushmore and the Lindbergh Beacon atop Los Angeles’ City Hall.
This year, Jacksonville is being awarded a $5,000 Light Up a Landmark Award from J.C. Penney for its creative plans to shine a spotlight on after-school programs. Additionally, a new Afterschool Alliance report, the “2011 State-by-State Afterschool Progress Reports and Consumer Guides,” will be released at the event. Sponsored by J.C. Penney, the report examines how each state is helping keep the lights on for kids and families after school.
Jacksonville was recently recognized nationally for the priority it has placed on high-quality out-of-school programming. The National League of Cities, in partnership with The Wallace Foundation, chose Jacksonville as one of 27 cities they consider to be the most advanced in their out-of-school-time system building efforts.
Students attending and performing at this event represent the following organizations: Wayman Academy of the Arts, Communities In Schools of Jacksonville, the Police Athletic League, Boys & Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida, The Bridge of Northeast Florida, the City of Jacksonville and JaxParks, the MaliVai Washington Kids Foundation, Community Connections, the YMCA of Florida’s First Coast and other youth-serving organizations.
For more information on TEAM UP or community-based after-school programs, visit the Jacksonville Children’s Commission at www.jaxkids.net.
For more information on Lights On Afterschool, visit www.afterschoolalliance.org.
SOURCE: Jennifer Savage, City of Jacksonville
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